Tweet, tweet! Let’s greet the spring! So what if it’s only
the end of February? Spring is almost here! You know how you can tell? Because A Year with Frog and Toad is on the
stage at Dundalk Community Theatre! Directed by Tom Colonna, with Musical
Direction by Michael Clark, and Choreography by Angelique “Gigi” Cause, this
delightful family-friendly show is perfect for young audiences and audiences
young at heart!

It takes enormous planning to create a random event! Such
elaborate schemes and diabolical deductions can only mean one thing—
elementary, my dear Watson! Oh, not Watson, you say? Just someone looking for a
night out supporting local theatre? Well, that is no coincidence, I’m sure! You’ve
come to the right place— 221 Baker’s Street! Well, actually 3710 Mitchell
Street but we won’t look too closely at the particulars! Sherlock Holmes The Final Adventures,

There is so much light in the world. Light from the sun,
light from inside that glows out from the human spirit, there’s all kinds of
light. But what about artificial light that’s natural? The disturbing glow the
illuminates from a diabolically dangerous substance? Radium. Playwright D.W.
Gregory historically fantasizes a dark spot on American history, shining an
incandescent beam of harrowing truth, with dramatic flair, onto historical
events of the shadowy 20th century.

First and foremost, there is
no freaking monkey. It is important to know right off the top that this
national tour of the 2009 Broadway smash hit, written by Chris D’Arienzo,
paying homage to the big hair bands of 80’s pop/rock radio is nothing like
the horrendous, bloated travesty of a movie by Adam Shankman that was more
offensive than his previous ruination of cult classic Hairspray. The
movie,

Uncle Vanya, written by Anton Chekhov, is the story of a group of people embittered by loss, disappointment, disillusionment, and hardship, and the power of faith through adversity. A retired professor, Alexandre (Bill Bodie), and his glamorous young wife Yelena (Erin Nealer) visit the rural estate that funds their city lifestyle. The estate is run by Vanya, (Nathan Rosen) Alexandre’s deceased former wife’s brother, and Sonya, (Claudia Bach) Alexandre’s daughter by his former wife.

Now is the time to seize the day! Third Wall Productions are
staring down the odds— and everyone else who wants to tackle this bear of a
musical production— and seizing the day! Proudly carrying the banner of their
first major children’s inclusive production since 13: The Musical (their second-ever production as a company, almost
three full years ago!), TWP is thrilled to present Disney’s Newsies. Directed by Henry Cyr,

What started out as a bold new
idea last year has realized itself as an exciting new staple of the
Baltimore/DC theatrical scene. The Kennedy Center’s Broadway Center Stage
concert series, which features top notch Broadway and Hollywood talent in
quickly-assembled one week runs to add special event variety to their already
busy tour and concert seasons, once again strikes gold (or perhaps more
accurately, brass—an entire marching band’s worth) in their jubilant current
production of Meredith Willson’s Tony winning classic The Music Man.

“Just think,” says our heroine to the
playwright John Dryden. “You can write about real women, real emotion, real
feminine feelings and they will all be played by a real woman!!” The men glance
at one another in quizzical, wide-eyed shock: who on earth would want to see
that?

Well, our Nellie knows. We all do. After all, wink, it’s the year
of the woman: 1665.

In the post-modern age, people
have the right to express who they are unabashedly and the freedom to
experience connections with a wide variety of people – without judgment. A
person may identify as cis- or transgender, non-binary, or agender – gay,
straight, or bisexual – single or married – monogamous or polyamorous – or any
combination of these – and this diversity is tolerated (for the most part.)
It’s a brave new world we live in,

A real family helps each other when they stumble, not kick
each other when they’ve fallen; a paraphrase of just one of the profound
insights found inside Andrea Moon’s El
Viaje de Beatriz or Beatrice’s
Journey, now appearing at the MET FUN Company as a part of their 2018-2019
season. Maryland Ensemble Theatre and its familial branches— like the FUN Company—
uplift this message with great consistency in their work.

You may not understand every word, but if you listen deeply,
you will understand what they’re trying to see. This is a critical component to
the extraordinary and brilliant piece of children’s theatre being performed on
the Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s FUN Company stage this winter. El Viaje de Beatriz, written by Andrea
Moon, and Directed by Daniel Valentin-Morales, is a bilingual fairytale about
little Beatriz, a young girl who is struggling with the death of her
grandmother.

Everything’s coming up Toby’s! Everything’s coming up— TOBY’S!
Let them entertain you with their stunning, thrilling, exciting, and magical
production of Gypsy. Directed by Mark
Minnick and Toby Orenstein with Musical Direction by Ross Scott Rawlings, the
truth of a brilliant story is told in earnest, with the heart of that gripping
tale at the forefront of the show creating honest theatrical magic for everyone
who comes to the table and lets the cast and crew of Gypsy entertain them.

Right and wrong— who’s to say, which we should refuse? All
we know, love survives either way we choose. Where, you ask, do we go when the
world’s not right? The answer here won’t rhyme, because it’s really hard to
rhyme things with “Chesapeake Arts Center’s Black Box Theatre.” But when the
world’s not right— and there is so much not right in the world right now, Stand
Up For…Theatre has an answer. The theatrical arm of How Do You Like Me Now
Productions,

It’s a
subject that has been explored since the dawn of written language. From sources
as disparate as the Sphinx’s riddle to Oedipus in Ancient Greek mythology, to
Shakespeare’s classic Seven Ages of Man speech, all the way to Albee, and even The Cher Show, man has expounded on the
concept that any situation in life is filtered through the age and experience
of the character passing through. Not only do individuals of different ages draw
different interpretations from the same life scenario,

Stonefish is an original play by
Erica Smith and directed by David Dieudonne.
Without wishing to spoil, Stonefish
revolves around fraternal twins Mason and Dixon (both played by Amanda Zeitler)
their younger brother Lewis, (Ren Stone) their father Stan, (Sean Butler) and
their piano teacher, Christopher (Matt Baughman.) The play itself deals heavily with grief and
trauma.

There is
little one can say about the plot without spoiling the thread of the story
except in that while it is a clever concept,

In a world exploding with fake news, the facts often get
lost in the chaotic flurry of excitement fluttering all around the story. And
even when the facts are straight forward, they don’t tell the whole story. The
facts here are straight forward. On November 18, 1978 over 900 people died in
the Jonestown agricultural commune in Guyana; over 300 of them were aged 17 and
under. The murky story and history, swirling around what is often recognized
today as the Jonestown Massacre like an ominous and foreboding fog,

Looking for an evening out? Like something a little more
1940’s than 1840’s? Tired of the trifecta ghosts of Christmas? Spotlighters
offers a more blithe spirit this holiday, Noel Coward’s Blythe Spirit, a witty little farce to bridge the transition from
2018 to 2019.

When one is in town, one amuses oneself. And if one is in Baltimore, one can amuse oneself by getting tickets to see an uproarious and smart production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest now appearing at Everyman Theatre for the holidays. Directed by Joseph W. Ritsch, this high-brow, tongue-in-cheek, comedy chestnut is a delightful romp through town, country, and all sorts of shenanigans. A pleasingly pleasant alternative to all of the elves,

The 2018 season on Broadway hasn’t come to an end just yet, and in fact there are some exciting openings and previews this month. However, with the date set for the 2019 Tony Awards, which will recognize achievements in the 2017-18 season, it’s not too early to talk about award potential, particularly for some of the more recent shows.

The winter woods are ripe with snow; there’s a crisp clear moonlight glow and the world is ready for winter’s end. The solstice! December 21st this year, but don’t wait until then to celebrate. Silver Spring Stage has a fabulous story all about hope in the bleakest darkness of winter right now upon their stage in the spirit of the season. Season of Light: A Winter Fairytale by Steph DeFerie makes its debut as the seasonal,

For those unfamiliar with the tale, A Christmas Carol is a sci-fi story of outer worldly spirits and time travel overlaid with a profitable Christmas theme. You know,like in It’s A Wonderful Life. If you find that an interesting way to think of it, Director Bill Leary’s adaptation is just as intriguing in how it updates this classic. The relationships that Ebeneezer Scrooge shuns are heightened by tying every character closer to him through family and business.Old boss Fezziwig is replaced with Scrooge’s father Andrew,

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” and this December, Artistic Synergy of Baltimore brings us one of our favorite holiday classics, Miracle on 34th Street—this time, as a spirited musical production with book, music,& lyrics by Meredith Willson! Directed by Melissa Broy Fortson, Music Directed by LeVar Betts, & Choreographed by Kristin Miller, this endearing show is sure to delight Christmas-lovers of all ages and make us believe once again in the magic of the season.

The internet is a glorious thing. You can look up anything at the touch of a button or the tap of your finger. Instantly you can access all sorts of records, all sorts of facts, and all sorts of history. You can read bios, get sports stats, and discover a world of knowledge about people from the past. But you can’t google a spirit. You cannot live and breathe their moments of excitement or feel their triumphs and failures through the internet.Enter live theatre;

Now is the time seize the day! Or in this case, “Carpe scaena!” And seize the stage like they did! Street Lamp Productions presentation of Disney’s Newsies, Directed and Choreographed by Bambi Johnson, is well worth the drive to Rising Sun, MD. I reckon it may be a bit out of the way for some Baltimore City folk, (Admittedly, had my mother not lived in Colora for over eleven years, I may not have known about it either.) but I promise you it’s worth the trip.

Watch and you’ll see— you too can be— part of their world! If you book your tickets quickly, that is, you too can be a part of the irresistible holiday magic happening at Toby’s Dinner Theatre this Christmas. Presenting Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Directed and Choreographed by Mark Minnick with Musical Direction by Ross Scott Rawlings, this epic adventure will bring you under the sea and into the fully animated world of Disney’s cherished coming-of-age tale about a little mermaid and her dreams to be part of the human world.

High above the town, flying down, better catch it quick— it’s better than ole Saint Nick— and it may still be in other locales— but somewhere hovering over Tidewater Players…across the whole opera house stage and straight to you…comes A Christmas Story. That’s right, kids— and kids at heart— after waiting for ages in line at Higbee’s, you’ve asked Santa for that irresistible major-award of a musical, and he’s delivered— because what’s the harm in simply watching Ralphie Parker shoot his eye out with his Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time?

You certainly will feel the earth move at the National Theatre right now through the end of the year! Beautiful is just that……BEAUTIFUL. Under the direction Marc Bruni this production leaves you feeling nothing short of wonderful. I guarantee after seeing this show your toes will be tapping and you will be humming Carole King’s extraordinary music for days to come. I had the pleasure of seeing the Beautiful tour open back in 2015 at the Providence Preforming Arts Center in Providence,

You only have one weekend left to see My Fair Lady at Third Wall Productions and I recommend that you do! It is no secret that I dig this company of families, friends, and volunteers who gather out of love to perform three shows a season in the sanctuary of St. Thomas on Providence Road. One of the many ways that their stalwart leader, Mike Zellhofer, shows his generosity is by giving fresh directors an opportunity to work on dream shows.

Come look at the freaks! Come gape at the geeks! Come examine Dundalk Community Theatre’s aberrations, their malformations— grotesque physiques…only pennies* for peeks…come look at the freaks! Come look inside the John E. Ravekes Theatre and have your curiosity satisfied with this gloriously haunting production of Side Show. Directed by Robert W. Oppel with Musical Direction by Rebecca Rossello, and Choreography by Vincent Musgrave, this breathtaking story is a circus marvel that twists and turns your mind and heart inside out and upside down all along its treacherous trail.